diff --git a/kmod/src/key.c b/kmod/src/key.c
index 9795f797..04891839 100644
--- a/kmod/src/key.c
+++ b/kmod/src/key.c
@@ -65,20 +65,30 @@ static void extend_zeros(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key)
 	}
 }
 
-void scoutfs_key_inc(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key)
+/*
+ * There are callers that work with a range of keys of a uniform length
+ * who know that it's safe to increment their keys that aren't full
+ * precision.  These are exceptional so a specific function variant
+ * marks them.
+ */
+void scoutfs_key_inc_cur_len(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key)
 {
 	u8 *bytes = key->data;
 	int i;
 
-	extend_zeros(key);
-
 	for (i = key->key_len - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
 		if (++bytes[i] != 0)
 			break;
 	}
 }
 
-void scoutfs_key_dec(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key)
+void scoutfs_key_inc(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key)
+{
+	extend_zeros(key);
+	scoutfs_key_inc_cur_len(key);
+}
+
+void scoutfs_key_dec_cur_len(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key)
 {
 	u8 *bytes = key->data;
 	int i;
@@ -90,3 +100,9 @@ void scoutfs_key_dec(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key)
 			break;
 	}
 }
+
+void scoutfs_key_dec(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key)
+{
+	extend_zeros(key);
+	scoutfs_key_dec_cur_len(key);
+}
diff --git a/kmod/src/key.h b/kmod/src/key.h
index a63244ba..2ed2f3f6 100644
--- a/kmod/src/key.h
+++ b/kmod/src/key.h
@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@ struct scoutfs_key_buf *scoutfs_key_dup(struct super_block *sb,
 					struct scoutfs_key_buf *key);
 void scoutfs_key_free(struct super_block *sb, struct scoutfs_key_buf *key);
 void scoutfs_key_inc(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key);
+void scoutfs_key_inc_cur_len(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key);
 void scoutfs_key_dec(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key);
+void scoutfs_key_dec_cur_len(struct scoutfs_key_buf *key);
 
 
 /*